What does a senior director do?
Senior directors are the top management who manage the overall corporate structure of a brand. These executives take responsibility for the planning, operations, and profitability of the company. They direct and control all the functions of businesses. Their jobs cover the advertising, marketing, sales, and promotions of products and services. They are the people behind the tactical and strategic management of every asset of the enterprise through different programs.
Senior director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior director resumes:
- Lead the expansion for support of public sector business in EMEA and APAC.
- Create and deliver pitch decks, while being task with managing RFP responses.
- Organize scrum certification training, lead departmental reorganization around scrum teams and act as scrum coach.
- Lead assessment, design, and implementation of operational governance capabilities for the EMEA & ASIA regions.
- Manage ongoing ITIL certification program for UK operations as required by government regulation.
- Help project managers understand financial responsibilities and lead them in increase product delivery and ROI.
- Implement the first Hyperion base global forecasting process.
- Create process to determine the company's first-ever baseline global sigma rating.
- Develop original SVC, PVC and SNMP provisioning requirements for Cisco switches.
- Facilitate daily scrum meetings with development and QA staff and plan software deployment schedules.
- Redesign G/L account structure and reporting to leverage both new GL system and Hyperion platforms.
- Provide QA and clinical affairs direction and guidance pertaining to FDA and Canadian regulatory authorities' queries.
- Direct strategic, enterprise-wide support functions including: customer support, escalation management, QA, and TD.
- Streamline provisioning processes for AccessLine's wholesale VoIP services enabling limit staff to keep pace with order growth.
- Develop the company trans-departmental sustainability organization and KPI's.
Senior director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 6% of Senior Directors are proficient in Healthcare, Analytics, and Patients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Healthcare, 6%
Assigned to Partners HealthCare System serving 2.5M patients.
- Analytics, 6%
Pioneered next-generation, exploratory big data analytics platform allowing for rapid creation of private data marts from trillions of events.
- Patients, 6%
Provided professional case management services to critically ill and injured patients during their treatment continuum.
- Portfolio, 5%
Experienced in identifying and resolving historic contracts, licenses and IP portfolio management with key partnership stakeholders to enable clinical development.
- Oversight, 5%
Provided external oversight to enterprise customer engagements in high value clients, ensuring successful delivery and client satisfaction with cost control.
- Project Management, 5%
Participate in Project Management Methodology implementations.
Most senior directors use their skills in "healthcare," "analytics," and "patients" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior director responsibilities here:
Creativity. The most essential soft skill for a senior director to carry out their responsibilities is creativity. This skill is important for the role because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." Additionally, a senior director resume shows how their duties depend on creativity: "achieved substantial warehouse inventory carrying cost reductions by $2.5m leading quality assurance during the successful fda pre-approval inspection for zevalin. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform senior director duties is interpersonal skills. Senior directors responsibilities require that "managers must deal with a range of people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization." Senior directors also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "connected with clients/customers daily through excellent interpersonal skills and managed the client/customer relationship. "
Organizational skills. senior directors are also known for organizational skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to senior director responsibilities, because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." A senior director resume example shows how organizational skills is used in the workplace: "provided oversight for rollout and follow up to determine organizational effectiveness and practices. "
Analytical skills. A big part of what senior directors do relies on "analytical skills." You can see how essential it is to senior director responsibilities because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical senior director tasks: "provided scientific leadership to effectively troubleshoot and alleviate escalated complex projects, supported clients with submitted data review with fda. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in senior director job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what senior directors do. Senior director responsibilities rely on this skill because "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." You can also see how senior director duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "guide senior counsel on fda strategies including drafts and content of regulatory communications such as citizen's petitions. "
The three companies that hire the most senior directors are:
- The Independent Traveler491 senior directors jobs
- Oracle387 senior directors jobs
- Capital One270 senior directors jobs
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Compare different senior directors
Senior director vs. Director of operations and finance
A director of operations and finance is in charge of overseeing and spearheading business and financial operations, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities revolve around performing research and analysis to identify the best practices to optimize operations, coordinating with different departments to gather data, conducting research and analysis to identify new business and investment opportunities, and monitoring the progress of various projects and programs. Furthermore, as a director, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior directors and director of operations and finance. For instance, senior director responsibilities require skills such as "healthcare," "analytics," "patients," and "portfolio." Whereas a director of operations and finance is skilled in "financial operations," "payroll," "cpa," and "financial management." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Directors of operations and finance earn the highest salaries when working in the automotive industry, with an average yearly salary of $126,734. On the other hand, senior directors are paid more in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $180,537.The education levels that directors of operations and finance earn slightly differ from senior directors. In particular, directors of operations and finance are 1.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior director. Additionally, they're 3.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior director vs. Director of business operations
The position of a director of business operations involves the direction and coordination of an organization. It is the main responsibility of the directors of operations to oversee the profitability and overall growth of their organization. Their job includes staff management, department supervision, goods production, and expense control. They handle the company's resources, create and implement an operational plan, and make sure that the procedures are executed properly. The skills necessary for this position include leadership skills, management skills, customer service, and communication skills.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, senior director responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "healthcare," "analytics," "portfolio," and "sr." Meanwhile, a director of business operations has duties that require skills in areas such as "business operations," "financial management," "operational efficiency," and "contract management." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Directors of business operations may earn a lower salary than senior directors, but directors of business operations earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $127,932. On the other hand, senior directors receive higher pay in the pharmaceutical industry, where they earn an average salary of $180,537.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Directors of business operations tend to reach similar levels of education than senior directors. In fact, they're 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior director vs. Director of project management
Project management directors are the ones who develop and direct the strategic planning of different projects. The directors oversee the coordination of resources and personnel necessary for project completion. Typically, the directors require certification for project management. They develop a methodology for standardized project management in a balanced matrix organization. The directors should be equipped with skills in process improvement, customer service, infrastructure, portfolio management, and strategic initiatives. They should also have skills in communication, attention to detail, and leadership.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior director resumes include skills like "analytics," "patients," "portfolio," and "sr," whereas a director of project management is more likely to list skills in "resource management," "business objectives," "program management," and "manage change. "
Directors of project management earn the best pay in the real estate industry, where they command an average salary of $143,185. Senior directors earn the highest pay from the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $180,537.When it comes to education, directors of project management tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior directors. In fact, they're 1.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior director vs. Director of managed services
A director of managed services is in charge of overseeing the business processes in an organization, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities typically revolve around setting goals and objectives, managing the workforce, spearheading projects and campaigns, devising strategies to optimize services, and coordinating with analysts to identify new business opportunities. Furthermore, as a director, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach new heights, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Updated January 8, 2025
